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On
a skin of deep blue paper on the gallery floor, the heavens meet
the earth in a field of glass stars punctuated by bronze animal
scat (droppings). On another, of deep pink, is heaped a tangle of
moulded earthworms. These sculptural pieces resemble tapestries
sprung into three-dimensional life. Crows, robins and owls appear
in bronze or on paper, their claws and feathers displayed in vitrines.
Bronze animal skulls with bared teeth are ranged on a narrow shelf.
These new works in Kiki Smith's exhibition, Once I Saw a Bird,
mark the beginnings of the artist's investigation of her relationship
with the animal world, of natural history, geology and the natural
environment.
Two years ago Kiki Smith visited the stone circles at Avebury, the
prehistoric ceremonial site, and this recent body of works is largely
inspired by that experience. The human figure has been all but banished
- a pair of amputated arms are the only reminders of the artist's
familiar explorations of the body and its functions. Yet themes
of decay and regeneration are felt as powerfully as ever in Smith's
new work. Her examinations of our inner workings, physical and emotional,
have shifted to comprehend a wider nature encompassing the constellations
and earthworms, mortal decay and cosmic infinities. The crows and
owls, the doilies inspired by a child's dream, the constellations,
all trace her personal explorations of nature, her place in the
cosmos, and her relationship to its other inhabitants.
Kiki Smith, who lives and works in New York, has exhibited internationally
since 1989. Her most recent shows were at The Power Plant, Toronto,
the Museum of Modern Art in Montreal and the Los Angeles Museum
of Contemporary Art. A major exhibition is planned for the Irish
Museum of Modern Art in Dublin later this year.
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